Sword of the Zero
by TheConstellation
Summary: Dying once was hard enough, but now Archerko is faced with perhaps her hardest challenge as someone who has always been fighting: peace. Now she's been summoned, not to fight for the Holy Grail, but to serve as the familiar of Louise 'the Zero' Valliere on her...intrepid...journey through life. Please Read & Review
1. Chapter 1: Oh Boy

Foreword: To those that don't know, Archer-ko is the creation of extremely talented writer and artist Himura Kiseki, she's from a series of unofficial TYPE-MOON doujinshi by the title of Sword Dancer I and II. As of yet her true identity is unknown but the two most competent theories say that she is either a grown up version of Illyasviel Von Einzbern, or as we will be going with for this story, she is a character known as Emillya and Shirou-ko. Emillya is Shirou Emiya from a series of unofficial doujins by the artist/writer/group Limit Break. She comes from Limit Break's story were after the end of Heaven's Feel route in Fate/Stay Night where Shirou Emiya dies and is then saved by Illyasviel at the cost of her own life as she uses her body to house his soul and bring him back to life. As a result in his new body, Shirou is given the name Emillya by Rin in order to hide him from both the church and the mages. A note of Shirou now being a girl, Emillya grows several inches, her hair takes on a reddish tinge, and she becomes...a bit of a clutz as well as rather adorably girly and even a fair bit flippant and carefree.

So now that you have a basic idea of who Archer-ko is, I'll get on with the story and I'll tell you now, canon is not fully solid given the situation of Archer-ko, I'll be playing with the standard canon, and I will be happy to point people towards more information on her via PM.

Now on with the show.

**OoOoOoOoO**

Oh, all copyright's go to their respective owners, no matter how much I wish to, I don't own Familiar of Zero or the TYPE-MOON universe.

You know something? Being a Counter-Counter-Guardian can be damn tiring, especially when you're stuck doing the same sort of stuff over and over again because someone else won't give up. I mean it's actually kinda fun having what I guess would best be described as a rival, even if he is an alternate version of myself which has lead to quite enough bothersome thoughts when I've had too much quiet time.

But still, why did I decide to protect that little girl?! Was it just because EMIYA was trying to kill her? I mean yeah I pretty much made it my job to get in his way but that wasn't any reason for me to keep helping her after I drove him off the first time, especially with that rather curse I picked up on touching the girl, but even then I kept helping her.

Heh.

I guess dad instilled better morals in me than I thought. That I promised to save everyone without killing anyone probably helped too. I mean she wasn't in a situation to different than my own when Dad rescued me from the ruins of that fire. I may not have been in a situation where I was being actively hunted down, but both of us were completely bereft of help and on death's doorstep when we were helped respectively, so maybe it was kinship.

Now though...now I can't help her. I went ahead and got myself killed saving her. I don't even get to know if she's safe from EMIYA! All I really can do now is wait and see if the world decides if it needs me again.

Selfish Root.

**OoOoOoOoO**

The sensation was almost imperceptible at first, but it continued and grew, feeling that at first resembled something like a comb being drawn through her hair as it stirred her consciousness to awareness. Instinctively she felt the prana being fed to her as it she awoke. Then came the words, words she knew all to well from all too long ago that reached to her from somewhere far away.

_"Silver and iron to the origin.  
_

_Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone."_

The summon. The summon of a Mage competing in the war for the Holy Grail. She knew it, and deep inside she was torn. She knew the violence that would result of the fight, but there was also opportunity in the chance.

Then something went wrong.

It felt almost as if someone had taken hold of her hair and suddenly wretched, dragging her attention away from the summon to the Holy Grail as new words reached her though it was just a brief snippet of what had been said.

_"-allière. Pentagon of the five elemental power, Hee-"_

_"-alighted wind becomes a wall._

_The gates in the four directions close, coming from the c-"_

_"No, this is most certainly not good,"_ she thought hastily, _"I've never seen what happens two people try to something at once, but if it it's anything like when I don't finish a projection this is not good."_ That thought was only validated as the feeling of a comb through her hair became a dragging wretch not unlike the other force and she was able to get an answer to one of her most idle questions.

No, one certainly did not need a body to feel pain if the sensation of being torn in half at the moment was any indication.

Still, it was a race she realized. A race to see which incantation finished first. Would it be the Grail War mage or the other one? She wasn't sure but the idea of them finishing at the same time wasn't attractive at all. Still, in the nearly timeless world of the Throne of Heroes, it was possible to get excited, even about something so potentially dangerous to herself.

_"-three-forked road-"_

_"-and bring forth-"_

_"-Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut. Shu-"_

_"-my familiar!"_

As that last words reached her, she would have sworn had she still had hears that the very Root itself echoed with a horrendous tearing sound as she experienced perhaps the most excruciating pain in her life before-

**OoOoOoOoO**

Worlds away from Earth, away from Fyuki City, away from the War for the Holy Grail; a small, petite girl in a white and black uniform stood mutely amongst a large number of other boys and girls in the same uniform, though none were quite as short as she was. Strawberry blonde hair of such a vivid shade one would be hard pressed to argue it wasn't pink framed a face with pale, fair skin and large amber eyes that even now shifted from person to person and creature to creature to creature.

An expression bordering on disdain but also worry and even fear sat rather precariously on her face as she looked around, as if the slightest detail that was wrong might send her into a fit.

This girl was Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, a second year student at the Tristan Magical Academy.

And yes, she was indeed on the edge of a fit. Though a fit of what wasn't clear.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"Very good class, it seems we've had a successful year for familiar summoning. Now everyone, please head to the cafeteria for lunch," a balding, brown haired man declared as he called out to the congregated students in the courtyard, looking out over the various familiars that had been summoned, including of all things a dragon.

"Sensei, we can't go yet, Zero hasn't done her summoning yet!" a girl piped up loudly from the crowd.

At the sudden call Louise felt her cheeks burn from the nickname that her classmates had assigned her for her skills at magic before she was distracted as she heard the balding man, Professor Colbert she reminded herself, sighed as he said, "Class, there's no need to be rude." He then turned to look at her with what could be described as a hopeful smile playing across his face as he looked to her.

"Now Louise, please go ahead and begin the summoning ritual," he directed calmly.

Raising her head and gathering the entirety of her dignity, Louise stepped forward into a small clear spot that was forming amongst the class. Doing her best impression of a deaf commoner, she ignored the crowd around her as they made little snippets of conversation between each other.

"What do you think she'll summon?"

"You actually think she'll manage to complete the summon even?"

"I'm betting she screws it up like everything else."

Clearing her throat briefly, she closed her eyes as she raised her wand, banishing the words of the crowd from her mind before gathering her will carefully as she began the incantation for the summoning ritual.

_"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière._

_Pentagram of the five elemental power,_

_Heed my summoning..._

_and bring forth..._

_my familiar!"_

As she finished the aria of the spell, the ground before her flashed and shone with brilliant silver light before there was a tremendous roar as an explosion flashed out from the location of the summon, dark black smoke pouring out through the crowd before a small girl with blue hair and glasses waved the staff she carried, casting a small wind spell that blew what was left of the smoke away after several moments.

Students who had been tossed backwards by the explosion struggled back to their feet, patting themselves off to clear away some of the soot from the blast as they began to mutter between themselves.

"Looks like she really did screw it up."

"I told you so."

"Why is she even here?!"

Louise for her part struggled to her feet, but even with the ringing in her ears from the blast she could still hear her classmates cursing her latest failure, the question about why she was even there hurting her pride the most. Still she pulled herself to her feet to look at the spot where her familiar should have been standing to find that waiting for her was...

...A sword.

Granted, Louise didn't know as much about blades and the like as perhaps other nobles did, but the weapon sitting embedded point first into the grass and soil before her struck her as particularly...she hesitated as she tried to find the right word to describe the weapon, but she eventually settled for calling it dignified.

The blade and indeed the majority of the weapon were made from what looked like polished silver though it seemed to have almost an internal luminosity to it as she stared. The blade of the sword was maybe two inches from edge to edge though as it approached the hilt it suddenly widened before smoothly flowing into the metal that formed the hilt of the sword that was nearly a foot or more from edge to edge at the bottom and widest point. In the middle of the hilt, a half circle of material was missing and in this area the grip of the sword attached, looking to have been carved from some kind of black and silver metal that varied in color from section-to-section as her eyes traveled up the length of the grip will it reached a small silver cone that served as the pommel.

It truly struck her as something beautiful, as she took in the entire appearance before she was shocked out of her reverie by another student.

"She summoned a sword," a student deadpanned rather sharply.

"Yes go ahead and point out the obvious," Louise muttered under her breath as she looked at the blade before being distracted by a polite cough as she looked to the source, finding Professor Colbert looking to her.

"Miss Valliere, though this is perhaps the oddest summoning I've ever seen, I suppose you should go ahead and fetch your...familiar," Colbert suggested politely, though the look on his face suggested this was a situation she was going to be getting a talking to for.

Lifting her head again as she gathered the scattered remains of her dignity, Louise stepped forward, grabbed the handle of the sword with her right and pulled it from the ground, only to suddenly be surprised as the blade came forth freely, and far too quickly before she realized what the problem was. The blade was light, far too light. In fact she had to wager it probably only weighed as much as her wand.

And as she held it, she couldn't deny that there was power in the weapon, she could feel the Will swirling beneath the surface of the grip in her hand as she looked at it open mouthed before a voice rang out, so clearly she wasn't sure if she had heard it, or if it had been in her head.

But the words were unmistakable, as was the female tone of the voice as it rang out again.

_"Did you summon me?"_

**_OoOoOoOoO_**

_"That...definitely hurt..."_ she thought as she settled into new her form, expecting to stretch out newly formed arms and legs only to be rudely brought back to Earth when she didn't. Rather she found herself bound in metal. Stretching her awareness, she found herself in a blade, a sword, an elegant, beautiful sword that called to mind an unpleasant set of memories as she sighed to herself before deciding to see what her surroundings were.

As a sword, she couldn't exactly see persay, but she had her refined senses as a mage, and those were enough to feel the world around her to tell her what was around her in her current form. There were people, actually, a surprising amount of people, and as she listened, she heard mutterings that suggested someone had fouled something up rather badly before she took note of the person closest to herself.

A young girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen years of age, if she included the estimated ages of those around her to help her approximation, stood looking upon her in what she decided to describe as blind admiration before coming to her senses as someone spoke particularly loudly. Listening, she settled that their language sounded something like an older version of French, though she still barely understood it as she watched the girl be spoken to by an older, balding man who, she realized, was dressed differently than everyone else around her.

_"Ah students and a teacher. Still doesn't explain why someone tried to summon a Heroic Spirit though,"_ she mused before being distracted. The girl closest to her, with long, vibrant pink hair had begun to approach, and in a single instant grabbed her form by the grip before pulling her from the soil. Deciding it was now or never, she decided to try for some contact as she spoke out to the girl, _"Did you summon me?"_

There was a clear start on the girl's face, but no immediate response, so she spoke again, putting more force behind her voice as she asked, _"Did you summon me?"_

The girl very nearly dropped her, but steadied her grip as surprise filled her face before she spoke up, muttering a small "...yes..." in reply.

_"Oh boy...this just got interesting,_" she thought to herself.

**OoOoOoOoO**

**AN:**

And there's the first chapter. I'd appreciate any input you, my readers, have as to how to improve this story as I'm not as well versed in writing from a character's specific perspective rather than that of an observer perspective I try to and fail to in Halo: Mass Contact. I'm a great fan of both TYPE-MOON and Familiar of Zero universes and you'll likely see references to other peoples' works and some youtube stuff if you know what you're looking for.


	2. Chapter 2: Much Better Now

All copyright's go to their respective owners, no matter how much I wish to, I don't own Familiar of Zero or the TYPE-MOON universe.

Now back to the story.

**OoOoOoOoO**

If she'd still had a human body, she would have slumped over and sighed in defeat at the sheer idiocy of the situation she had ended up in. The pinkette was still holding her hilt, though her eyes were wide with surprise and she had already nearly dropped her twice in the span of several seconds as she took several faltering steps back from where she had pulled her out of the ground. Sighing to herself, she spoke to the girl again as she called out, _"Oye, buck up girl and steady yourself. I don't want to get dropped and I'd like it if we introduced ourselves."_

The call had the desired effect as the girl's eyes narrowed and she nodded in response before speaking in a clear, if annoyingly superior, voice.

"I am Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, and I am the master who summoned you here as my familiar," she called.

_"Charming to meet you,"_ she replied dryly, _"Call me Archerko."_

**OoOoOoOoO**

_"Call me Archerko"_

The name was interesting for sure in Louise's opinion, and it showed in her next question as she asked, "Archer...ko? But you're a sword."

Any response she might have gotten from the blade was lost as Louise was distracted by a sudden hand being set on her shoulder that shocked her enough that as she turned to face the owner she dropped Archerko, hearing a brief shout of complaint that was cut off midway as her hand left the grip of the sword.

"Louise, who are you talking to?" a girl behind her asked.

As she turned back to look at the owner, Louise felt a sudden rush of anger as she stared first into the superfluous bust and then the face as she looked further up of a dark skinned, red headed girl by the name of Kirche Augusta Frederica Von Anhalt Zerbst.

With a huff she turned away as she picked the sword back up from where it had landed point first into the ground, before answering, ignoring the sword as she declared, "If you must know Kirche, I was speaking with my familiar."

"Your familiar...the sword right? You sure you haven't gone nuts from too many explosions, Zero?" Kirche responded, arching an eyebrow as disbelief colored her tone.

"Hardly, you perverse tramp. So shut up, I need to speak with my familiar and figure out how useful she's going to be," Louise replied angrily, ignoring the retort that was shot back by the busty redhead before turning back to the sword.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"Familiar, what can you do right now?"

The question grated on Archerko's nerves a bit as she listened, taking in the tone her summoner had spoke to her in. With a hearty sigh, she decided to just get the explanations out of the way immediately rather than leaving than for later as she responded._ "Not much at the moment other than to just best a good sword, or a substitute for your mystic code right now,"_ she began,_ "But that's cause I don't have a body at the moment."_

"What do you mean you don't have a body?! You're a sword!" shouted her petite master.

The grating tone only wore further on her nerves as she pulled together her patience to answer the irate girl holding her by the hilt. _"Look,"_ she began, _"Not all of me got summoned. By whatever curse of fate there is, you ended up trying to summon me at the same time someone else did. What you got is the most essential part of me, my soul really. I think whoever else was trying to summon me got...well a corpse most likely cause I'm not there to drive the body around. So the basic fact is if I'm gonna do anything really useful for you, I need a body."_

"And where am I gonna get you a body?" Louise demanded.

_"Well we can do it two ways. First, if there's anyone you really don't like, you can just stab me into them and I'll overwrite their soul and kill them as I use their body," _Archerko responded politely.

"Though there are plenty of people I don't like, I think I'd rather avoid that," her master responded.

_"Alright, then option number two, I need a construct. Something human in shape and size like a big clay doll or a suit of armor will do. What you'll do is pour magic into me and then just drive me into the stomach of said construct. It'll take more effort on my part, but I can make a body out of one of them."_

"Alright...I...I think I can find something that'll work, just let me go talk to Professor Colbert."

_"Yeah, do what you need to, but just keep a hold of my hilt so I can talk to you if I need to,"_ Archerko responded calmly, doing her best to keep her fraying nerves in check.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"She's gone nuts."

"No kidding, she's been talking to a sword for Founder's sake."

"Now long do you think it will be before she's in a loony bin?"

"Dunno, but you wanna start a pool for it?"

Again Louise found herself shutting out the comments from the crowd, this time by telling herself she clearly was not crazy, and that despite the fact the sword she was holding in her right hand was a valid weapon, and that stabbing people was not an appropriate response to their jeering.

Thankfully, she didn't have to walk far to find Professor Colbert in the disorganized mess of people remaining from her summoning. As she approached the balding professor, she did her best to but on a polite tone expression as she spoke up.

"Professor Colbert, I require some assistance, or rather my familiar does..." She said, trying not to be demanding though she was also having trouble keeping the nervousness out of her voice.

With raised eyebrows and an expression of utter curiosity on his face, Colbert turned to look at Louise immediately though his eyes went directly to the sword she held as she began to explain by saying, "Um...during the summoning professor, my familiar says someone else tried to summon her at the same time so she didn't get a body..."

"Then what is the sword you're holding Louise?" He replied as he cupped his chin in earnest thought.

"She...she says it's her soul professor. And I need a suit of armor or a big doll made of clay for her to inhabit."

"Her soul...that...should be impossible...but if it really is true that would be amazing, something truly new..." Colbert began to mutter.

"Professor! My familiar needs a body!" Louise shouted in anger, not liking the sudden idea that Colbert had been about to try and dissect Archerko.

"Ah, my apologies Miss Valliere. If what you said is true is all she needs, I think one of Guiche's Valkyrie golems might fit the bill for what your familiar is asking for."

From there it was a relatively simple matter of getting the playboy Guiche to summon one of his Valkyries, but it there was the cost of an unnamed favor sometime in the future that Guiche gave up the golem for Louise's use, something that left her particularly irked.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"Alright, we've got a body ready for you, now how do we do this?"

Archerko didn't respond immediately as she figured out the best method for performing her part of the work, but a sudden shake and shout from her summoner got her attention as she sighed and responded.

_"Alright, grab my hilt with both hands. Once you do that, pour as much of your magic into me as possible as if you were casting a spell. When you don't think you can put in anymore energy, stab me into the golem's stomach, I'll take it from there. Sound alright?"_

Louise didn't verbally answer her, but she did at least nod in reply which got a sigh again, but Archerko held her tongue as she felt Louise grip her hilt with both hands before beginning to pour prana into her as if for a spell, and boy did she supply plenty.

She wasn't sure how much prana the girl had overall, but the amount she was being fed at that moment was probably enough that she could have powered the full use of Saber's Excalibur for an attack.

Certainly not something to laugh at.

Still, Louise did eventually stop with supply of magic, and Archerko could see the exhaustion on her summoner's face as the girl inhaled slowly before suddenly running forward and driving her tip first into the stomach of the golem.

_"My turn now master, so why don't you sit back and rest for a bit,"_ she thought to herself.

**OoOoOoOoO**

_"That...that was really easy...shouldn't there have been resistance?"_ Louise thought as she looked to the blade she had just buried to the hilt in the chest of Guiche's golem. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she looked around the back only to find that the blade hadn't come out of the rear of the golem. With a sense of trepidation, she let go of the sword's hilt and took a half step back, and seemingly not a moment too soon.

The sword flared with silver light as the remainder of the exposed weapon sank into the Valkyrie's chest before the golem to glowed a brilliant silver, the brightness increasing till Louise was forced to close and shield her eyes lest she be blinded as wind began to whip about the area.

_"I am the bone of my sword."_

Despite the blinding light, Louise's eyes snapped open as her ears registered the sound of the voice she had heard before in her head speaking as Archerko began some form of chant.

_"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."_

No, it wasn't a chant Louise realized, it was an aria for a spell. As she listened, she couldn't wonder what sort of spell, having never heard of an incantation like the one she was hearing now.

_"I have created over a thousand blades."_

The light had faded a little and the wind was dying down a touch, enough that though the gap in her arms and by squinting, Louise could catch the occasional glimpse of what was her familiar was making out of the Valkyrie golem. There was pale, fair skin unmarked like fresh snow in the winter. Silver hair like burnished platinum that stretched down Archerko's back to reach her knees.

_"Unaware of loss, Nor aware of gain._"

Clothes took shape across her familiar's body before the light dimmed any further. A short black skirt that reached midway down her thighs. A tight fitting black shirt, trimmed in silver that framed the emphasized the chest of her familiar, which though not as large as Kirche's by any means, was still plentiful. A blood colored waistcoat came next, it had a slit in the back and was open in the front as it sat over her original black skirt, though the leading corners dipped nearly to her shins where a silver tassel hung. Black stockings that reached to just below the level of her skirt formed next, followed by red shoes that looked both comfortable and protective. A second set of small black pleats from a small over skirt then settled over the waistcoat before a tight fitting, ember red jacket formed around her body last, a black triangle hanging from the back of the neck as the front went around her familiar's chest as if to draw more attention to it.

Privately Louise wondered why the hell it seemed like her familiar was making a show of this.

_"Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival."_

The light was intensifying, as she shielded her eyes again, Louise could feel a massive burst of will from her familiar before the light faded. As she looked to her familiar, the long hair that draped down her back began to pull itself together as it suddenly formed into a tight, narrow braid, leaving chest length hair free to form her familiar's face before a small length of red ribbon tied off the braid at the end.

_"I have no regrets. This is the only path."_

At those words, Louise watched as the light disappeared in a final flash and the wind faded away to a the courtyard's normal gentle breeze. Archerko stood relaxed before before her, calmly breathing, before eyes the color of bloody rubies suddenly opened to lock with her own amber ones as her familiar crouched down on one knee, her right hand going to rest across her heart as she spoke up to Louise.

"A pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh Miss Valliere."

**OoOoOoOoO**

_"And stretch and one and two and there we go..."_ Archerko thought to herself as she savored the wealth of new feelings coming from having a body again before she knelt down on one knee before Louise and greeted her.

"A pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh Miss Valliere," she greeted her summoner warmly before her attention was suddenly pulled away as the balding professor spoke again.

"Ah, Miss Valliere, now that your familiar has a body, it would be good if you finished the summoning ritual." He said.

_"Finish it? I'm here aren't I?"_ Archerko thought dryly before she suddenly felt a pair of small, soft hands cup her cheeks and turn her face back to look at Louise's.

_"Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, grant your blessings upon this creature and bind it as my familiar,"_ she heard Louise declare before she suddenly found herself at a lose for words as a pair of dainty lips pressed against her own.

With her eyes wide, she pulled away as she felt a sudden burst of heat fill her body as prana flowed into her. With the hiss of air rushing through clenched teeth, Archerko looked to her left hand as she felt the sensation of a burning piece of metal cutting along her flesh. What she found along the back of her hand were a series of sharp, angular runes that glowed a light blue for several more seconds before they dimmed and went out, turning a pale gray against her skin.

Despite their seeming inactive state, she could feel a wealth of prana flowing into her body from the runes. _"Well it looks like I won't be needing to eat to keep this body from breaking down..."_ She considered before turning her attention back to her summoner who seemed to be having a fit.

"I can't believe I had to kiss a girl! Even if it is part of the ritual that was abhorrent! Absolutely disgusting!" she heard Louise pantomime as she began to chuckle at her master's behavior.

After all, if she could keep getting free kisses from the girls in this world, than maybe it wasn't such a bad place after all.

**OoOoOoOoO**

So there's chapter 2, all finished and written. I hope you all enjoyed it, do please leave a review, but if you're gonna leave an angry review like d and say the story is shit, do say why please.


	3. Chapter 3: A Demonstration

After the rather...vitriolic...backlash. I have edited so that Louise is merely complaining about having to kiss another girl rather than having had to kiss a commoner sense as many people have pointed out, it was quite clear that Archerko was a mage of some sort.

d(guest) aka f(guest) until you actually turn off your anonymous reviewing or you actually explain why this story "sUcks dicks" your reviews aren't getting posted. End of story.

Again all copyright's go to their respective owners, no matter how much I wish to, I don't own Familiar of Zero or the TYPE-MOON universe.

And most importantly, thank you to my beta-readers Keeper of the Inn, Mizuki00, and Shadow Zeranion, all of whom put up with my troublesome writing and stubbornness!

Now back to the story.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"Shut up!"

"I said shut up you insufferable familiar!" Archerko heard Louise shout at her as she struggled to rein in her laughter.

"I would Miss Valliere, but you're just so entertaining," Archerko replied with a laugh as she sidestepped an angry swipe from Louise. "I mean, you're absolutely adorable when you get angry like this," she continued, thoroughly enjoying teasing her summoner until she was interrupted.

"My, my, Louise. Did that sword you summoned actually turn into the young woman who is now raising your hackles?" A teasing voice called in question.

Turning to look at the source, Archerko was finally able to lay actual eyes on the amply gifted redhead from before. "Kirche, what are you here for? Have you decided to try my patience like my fool of a familiar?" Louise asked curtly as Archerko gave a large, wry smile.

"Oh I hardly came to bother you Louise, I was far more interested in your rather...attractive familiar," Kirche replied with a wicked grin, "Do tell me familiar, what is your name?"

"Oh that's not an issue at all, my name is-"

"SHUT UP FAMILIAR!" Louise shouted in an attempt to stop her.

"-Archerko." She finished before replying with a question, "Care to introduce yourself?"

"Ah yes, I am Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst," the redhead gave a curt nod then gestured to her summoned salamander. "and my familiar here is Flame."

"Well it's nice to meet you, Miss Zerbst, but what about you?" Archerko asked as she turned her attention to a very small figure barely sticking out from behind Kirche. She had identified the figure as a student she had seen earlier, but as of yet she still didn't have a name to put to the face as she waited to see if the girl would introduce herself as a robin's egg blue dragon approached from behind the short blue haired girl.

"Tabitha," she finally replied flatly with a small nod before gesturing to with a knotted staff she was holding that was taller than herself to the dragon as she said, "Sylphid."

_"Well at least I know a bit more about the other students...and if Louise's conversation was anything to go by, the one coming at me right now is..."_ Archerko thought to herself before she was nearly turned on her heel to face the balding man she had observed before as she finished her thought _"...Professor Colbert..."_

"So you really are human...I have to admit I am amazed. I wasn't sure until I actually got to look at you from this close, but this is fascinating! I can't think of any particular record of a mage summoning a humanoid much less a human familiar!" The professor rambled out, clear excitement lacing his tone.

"Yes, well I'm sure I'm amazing Professor, but I don't think I'll volunteer for a vivisection if you're alright with that," Archerko replied with a nervous chuckle as she took a step and a half back to put a little distance between herself and the far too interested teacher.

"Ah well that's disappointing, but would you at least be willing to explain the aria we heard you use when you made your body? The sheer fact that you could create a human body out of a metal golem means you must at the very least be a square class earth mage. Such a powerful transmutation is only the work of-" Colbert rambled before he was abruptly cut off by a cheer.

"Ya-ha!" Archerko heard Louise cheer from the side, "HA! I proved everyone wrong by summoning a powerful familiar!"

As she looked to her master, Archerko couldn't help but grin as she saw the smile she was wearing and the obvious pride. She had deduced enough from the scraps of information she'd heard while she had still been a sword to understand that Louise had something of the reputation as a failure, so if she could inadvertently help her master by just being herself, then so much the better.

Any further thoughts Archerko might have had were disturbed as Professor Colbert called for everyone's attention before sending the students off to eat.

Apparently the familiars ate separately and Archerko was about to follow after them when Louise pulled her off to the side to being her along to eat with the students, giving her an excuse about her 'being a mage'.

Somehow Archerko was more sure it was about increasing her summoner's formerly crushed pride.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"Tell me something Miss Loui-"

*smack*

"Ouchie...alright then, tell me something master," Archerko corrected herself, not exactly thrilled with the dope slap to the back of her head that her short summoner had treated her too a moment ago as she waited for a curt nod in reply.

"This is a magical academy, correct?"

A nod in reply.

"And everyone of the students here is a noble I'm guessing from my limited interaction."

Another nod.

"Then I'm guessing that only nobles can use magic? Or are at least taught how to use it?" She asked.

A third nod.

"And I am your familiar, correct?"

Yet another nod.

"So would the fact that I, a familiar, am eating amongst the noble children be why this environment is so...hostile?" She finally asked as she looked up from her short summoner who had refused to turn her attention away from her meal to the innumerable glares coming her way from various other students in the cafeteria.

There was a sharp *clang* as Louise set her spoon down into her soup bowl before dabbing her lips with her napkin as she replied, "Most likely."

"So does that mean-"

"That pretty much everyone here hates you dear? Yes, that is quite likely the truth my dear," Kirche interrupted as she set down a tray across from Archerko only to receive a fearsome scowl from Louise as Tabitha took a seat beside Kirche. For Archerko's part, she didn't mind the company, but the brief stare she received from Tabitha before the blue haired girl turned her attention back to her food set her nerves on edge and raised the hairs across the back of her neck.

_"That girl...she is definitely an odd one, dangerous too..."_ Archerko briefly considered to herself with a sense of wry amusement. One the brief walk to the cafeteria, she had gotten a better sense of Professor Colbert and was certain he was dangerous enough on his own, but she hadn't expected one of the students to get to her the way he had, even if not to such a degree.

Any more consideration on her part was waylaid as Kirche thrust herself back into the conversation as she asked, "So Archerko, since you were summoned, that means you had to be summoned from somewhere. So where are you from?"

"Huh?" Archerko replied briefly as she brought herself back to the conversation before she replied with a question of her own. "Well do you mean where was I born, or do you mean where I was summoned from? Cause they really are pretty different places..." she asked sheepishly.

Archerko caught a brief, curious glance from Louise as her summoner began to pay quite a bit more attention to the conversation as Kirche replied saying, "Well how about just where you were born first. I'm sure you were summoned from somewhere interesting, but you don't end up like you are without an interesting upbringing."

"Eh...I suppose that's true..." Archerko replied with a thoughtful look before she continued by saying, "Well I'm from Fuyuki City in the country of Japan and-"

"Wait, where is Jaa-pahn?" Louise interjected as she furrowed her brow from trying to get her mouth around the unfamiliar word.

"You have a map?" Archerko replied as she raised a withering eyebrow.

**OoOoOoOoO**

About twenty minutes later, Archerko stood over a lovingly hand drawn map of the continent Kirche had provided as Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha stood around the table the map was spread out on.

As she drank in the details of the map, Archerko traced a finger to the East of the map till she hit the edge of an ocean whereupon she spoke up saying, "Japan is a nation far, far to the East. Far enough away that you might consider it a whole other world in fact."

"Sad?"

Archerko looked up from her study of the map to lock eyes with Tabitha who had asked the question.

"A little I guess. I still had friends there but we had parted ways long ago when we could no longer stand beside each other," Archerko replied with a small sense of nostalgia. Oh how she missed those mornings at the dojo with everyone, particularly Sakura.

"Still that doesn't matter, you are now my familiar so I expect you to obey my orders, is that clear?" Louise piped up.

Archerko took a moment to look at her summoner as before looking to the runes on her left hand. They weren't the command seals of the Holy Grail war, but they were still proof of some sort of contract between the two of them and Louise was probably trying to reassert herself a little bit after Archerko had become the center of the group's attention.

"Provided your orders are reasonable, I will follow them Miss Valliere," Archerko eventually responded after a tense silence had filled the room.

Louise didn't seem to enjoy the idea that her familiar wouldn't follow her every command, but she seemed to accept the reply with ambivalence. "Perhaps the fact that she summoned what constitutes a noble by this world's standards is keeping her from being as authoritative as she wants to be..." Archerko considered.

"Bell."

"Hmm? What do you-" Archerko began before she was interrupted by a chiming bell sounding across the grounds.

Louise and Kirche seemed to perk up immediately as they picked up their bags before rushing out of the room leaving Archerko with Tabitha as she asked, "What's the hurry?"

"Class."

"Oh."

With that, Archerko set a leisurely pace after her master, walking beside Tabitha with her arms folded behind her head.

**OoOoOoOoO**

The class turned out to be a mostly boring lecture that left Archerko struggling to stay awake as she propped her chin in her hands and watched and at least attempted to listen until the teacher pulled out a series of stones and set them on the desk in front of herself in preparation for some form of demonstration.

Looking up with interest, Archerko paid rather astute attention as the teacher brandished her wand and tapped the stones as she muttered some form of aria under her breath before the stones shone with light only to dim and reveal they had changed to become a reflective, yellow metal.

"Now who can identify the material I have created here?" The teacher asked politely as much of the class let out a series of gasps of amazement.

"It-it's not gold is it?" One boy asked hesitantly.

"It's brass," Louise interjected suddenly as if suddenly having been startled into speaking.

"Quite correct Miss Valliere," the teacher replied, "Creating gold from another material requires that one be at least a square class mage, I however am merely a triangle class mage." She replied with a touch of false modesty.

Triangle class? Square class? Archerko was finding the titles more than a little confusing as she leaned forward over the table to tap the student in front of her on the shoulder as she asked, "Ne, ne, what does she mean by triangle and square class mages?"

The student in question, a girl with long blonde curls turned about and actually did a double take at some asking such a basic question before the teacher spoke, cutting off any chance she had of replying.

"You in the red, in the back. I know all of my students and you certainly aren't one of them. I was merely putting up with your presence as you were not disrupting my class, but if you are going to disrupt my student's studies I will not tolerate your presence here," the teacher thundered.

Raising her hands in a placating gesture, Archerko gave her best apologetic face as she looked to the teacher replying, "I'm very sorry about that, I merely had a question about what you were saying."

Whatever the teacher's mood had been before, she seemed to take some sort of affront at the idea that someone hadn't been able to understand what she had been saying as she questioned Archerko, "And what was it you didn't understand?"

With a rather sheepish expression as she rubbed the back of her head with one hand Archerko explained as she said, "Well I don't know what square and triangle class mages are. All I've gathered is that square class is higher than triangle class and that Professor Colbert said I was a square class earth mage."

Silence fell across the room and Archerko instantly felt every gaze in the room turn towards her though when she caught Louise's eyes she noted that her face was torn between fury and pride, but her attention was drawn back to the teacher as she spoke again.

"Who are you?" She asked incredulously.

Standing and giving a little mock salute, Archerko smiled as she introduced herself saying, "I am Archerko and I was summoned as Louise Valliere's familiar earlier today."

The teacher seemed to chew on this for several moments before gring out a two word answer as she said, "I see." There was a considerable pause and silence before she spoke again as she asked, "Well then would you be willing to demonstrate your square class magic by turning a few stones into gold?"

"I believe I could do that provided my master found it acceptable," Archerko replied as she passed the buck to Louise who suddenly looked horrified.

Before the end of Heaven's Feel all she had been able to do was her tracing, projection, and reinforcement, but after she had gained her new body, Rin had been insistent that she learn more magic as the circuits in her body had been good for more than just her primary method of combat. Thankfully one of the skills Rin had taught her besides the ever lovable finger gun was transmutation, a skill she was about to put to the test for the first time in years it seemed as Louise reluctantly nodded her permission for Archerko to demonstrate her magic.

Giving a tired sigh, Archerko stood from the seat she had occupied and made her way down to the front of the class room where she could acutely feel every students' eyes on her as she stood next to the teacher behind her desk.

Looking to the teacher for final approval, Archerko received a nod and turned back to the desk and the plain stones still on it. Cautiously, she placed her hands above a group of stones before closing her eyes as she activated her magic circuits.

In the wake of her spell casting and her outpouring of od, there was a brilliant flash before there was a collective gasp followed by an outbreak of applause among the students as Archerko opened her eyes to look at her success.

As she lowered her hands, she was greeted with the sight of a brilliantly engraved golden dagger as she had decided to forge the gold into a useful shape rather than to just leave it in the form of a stone.

Only two people weren't impressed it seemed though as Archerko looked about the room, the first was the teacher who looked nothing but suspicious, and her master who was nothing but relieved and sagging onto her desk.

With a friendly smile, Archerko gave a little wave to her master before exiting center stage as she said, "Feel free to keep that by the way, ma'am."

As she left the room, everything seemed to fall apart as the student body lost any sense of decorum as they hurled questions at the teacher about what she had done.

_"Well that was fun,"_ she reflected with a smile.

**OoOoOoOoO**

**AN:** I've taken a fair bit of creative license here with Archerko's ability to use magic, and here's how Im justifying it before you get angry. Shirou was only able to use tracing, reinforcement, and projection as a result of his learning and his quality of magic circuits. After he gained Illya's body it would be reasonable to expect he had a far superior set of magic circuits while still retaining his original skills. As stated in Sword Dancers, the body of a homunculus like Illya, is first class for as mage, so it would be reasonable to assume that with Illya's body, Shirou could learn more magic.

This is my explanation for any new magic she displays.


	4. Chapter 4: You're In Trouble

Again all copyright's go to their respective owners, no matter how much I wish to, I don't own Familiar of Zero or the TYPE-MOON universe.

And most importantly, thank you to my beta-readers Keeper of the Inn, Mizuki00, and Shadow Zeranion, all of whom put up with my troublesome writing and stubbornness!

Now back to the story.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"A-Astounding..."

"Mmhmmm...I must agree with your assessment Professor Colbert."

"I told you she wasn't any ordinary familiar."

"And you were right...her breasts must be at least 90 cm..."

"Sir...That wasn't what I was referring to..." Professor Colbert replied with a sigh as he looked up from the crystal ball to look at the face of the Academy's headmaster: Old Man Osmond.

"Oh? What were you referring to then Jean?" The wizened looking old man asked looking up to meet Colbert's gaze.

"Headmaster, I was more speaking to the fact that this familiar summoned by Miss Valliere just demonstrated magic in line with the capabilities of a square class earth mage, and that she did it without a wand," Colbert replied as firmly as he could.

Giving a concerned 'hmmm' Osmond leaned back in his chair and brought his right hand up to cup his chin, stroking his beard before going silent for several moments as he closed his eyes in thought, murmuring to himself.

"So what do you think about her Headmaster?" Colbert eventually asked after a few minutes had passed.

"Headmaster?"

Osmond finally began to murmur out a reply without a change in his posture as his whispered out, "Ah...mint green today...a lovely color Ms. Longueville..."

It took a moment for Professor Jean Colbert to process what he had heard Old Osmond say, but as soon as he had realized it, he sagged in defeat realizing that he wasn't going to get much further at the moment. From there he prepared to leave the room before Osmond interrupted him to say, "She's impressive Jean. If something arises where she'll give another demonstration, don't interrupt it but don't try and push her towards it either. We don't have the faintest clue as to her limits right now."

"Understood sir."

**OoOoOoOoO**

As she made her way through the various hallways of the Tristan Magic Academy, a pair of realizations came to Archerko.

First, she had no idea where she would be sleeping, if she would be getting a place to sleep at all.

Second, she was doubly aware of a presence watching her. It was similar to when someone had a familiar observing her from a distance, but at the moment she couldn't discern the particular source that she was being watched from. Something that unsettled her as being able to figure out where she was being observed from had generally been something she was good at.

Eventually as she walked though, the presence she felt observing her faded away and disappeared, leaving her to herself as she passed the occasional maid or servant walking the halls in an obvious hurry to fulfill their duties.

As she turned the corner of one of the hallways to go back out into one of the exterior, sheltered walkways, Archerko suddenly found herself stumbling backwards a pair of steps as a surprised 'kyaa' came from in front of her followed by the sound of someone falling backwards onto the stone flooring of the walkway.

Surprised that she hadn't noticed the presence of whomever she had run into, Archerko looked down to apologize, only to be pleasantly surprised at just whom she had run into.

As she looked, Archerko took in the sight of the rather young lady before her who was perhaps a year older than her master at most as she looked over the girl's black hair that was now slightly mussed, her large blue eyes that were looking about frantically in worry, and then down to her shapely body that Archerko found herself liking quite a bit as she knelt down just an arm's length away or so from the maid as she asked, "Are you alright?"

Instantly the maid looked up to meet her gaze as she let out a surprised, "Huh?"

"I asked if you were okay," Archerko repeated kindly, putting on her best smile as she was suddenly rewarded by an awkward blush on the maid's face.

"Oh...oh I'm fine," the maid replied after a hesitant moment of looking at Archerko before continuing as she said, "I'm terribly sorry for running into you ma'am, please forgive me"

Archerko raised her hands before her in a placating gesture as she said, "It's just fine and it's really my fault for not paying attention to where I was going."

"Ah but I ran into-"

"It was my fault Miss Maid. Now if I can could I offer you some help?" Archerko cut off the maid before she could attempt to shoulder the blame entirely.

"Oh...thank you Miss...Um what is your name?" The maid asked as she moved into a crouch to begin collecting the various objects she had dropped when she fell.

"Call me Archerko once you introduce yourself as well, Miss Maid," Archerko replied as she worked to help pick up the various dropped items before scooping them up in her arms as she stood in front of the maid.

"Ah, I'm terribly sorry for not introducing myself ma'am. My name is Siesta," the maid replied as she stood.

"Call me Archerko, Siesta," she insisted with a small smile as she began to walk beside the maid to deliver the various items to wherever it was they had to be delivered.

"Ah well then...Miss Archerko...Where are you from? I don't recognize you as one of the students here and even if you were you aren't dressed like one, so um who are you?" Siesta asked her curiosity lacing her voice.

"Ah I'm a person, but I got summoned here as a familiar earlier this morning," Archerko replied.

"Who's familiar, if I may ask?"

"Louise Valliere's, though I have to say this place's idea of a familiar is different than my own."

"You...you're Miss Valliere's familiar?"

"Yeah, wasn't really expecting what happened, especially when I showed up here without my body and had to make one for myself with a little help from Louise."

"What do you mean without your body?!" Siesta asked, clear panic in her voice and on her face as Archerko looked over at her.

"Oh she was racing to summon me with someone else and finished first so she got the important bits and I was able to help her make a body for myself."

"Important bits?"

"We'll my soul really. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Y-y-your soul..."

"Mmhmmm."

"I think I'll pass on asking anymore Miss Archerko."

"Smart girl Siesta," Archerko replied with a gentle laugh as they arrived at their destination and she proceeded to set down the various things she had been carrying where Siesta directed her to.

As she prepared to leave, an idea came to Archerko as she looked to Siesta before asking, "Hey Siesta, are there any empty rooms in the Academy that I could possibly use?"

"Umm I think there are a few, but you'd need Headmaster Osmond's permission before you actually made use of them," Siesta replied with a contemplative look that involved looking to the ceiling and holding her right index finger to her pursed lips.

"Thanks Siesta I'll see about doing that. I'd like to have somewhere to myself while I'm here," Archerko replied before giving the maid a friendly wave and another disarming smile as she left.

**OoOoOoOoO**

The departure of her familiar from the classroom had left Louise gaping like a fish as she struggled to understand what had happened. The silver haired familiar had not only transformed stone into gold, but in the same silent spell, she had shaped the lumps of created gold into a short dagger that the teacher was now examining closely.

What was really bothering Louise the most though was that Archerko, her familiar, hadn't bothered to use a wand or any other sort of focus to cast her spell. Such an act would have made her assume she was an elf, but Archerko's ears were prominently on display with the cut of her hair so it was clear she lacked the 'knife-ears' of the elven species.

For now though class was still in session so Louise settled herself in to wait till classes were over for the day to go find her familiar and get some answers from her.

**OoOoOoOoO**

_"Cute girl that Siesta...might have to check in on her again at some point,"_ Archerko thought to herself as she stepped out from under an overhang. With a small smile as she took in the Academy grounds now that she had travelled all the hallways, she stretched her arms up above her head before hopping up and gripping the edge of the roof.

With a brief exertion of her muscles, Archerko swung her legs forward, back then forward again as she pivoted and flipped herself up onto the shingled surface of the roof with a soft thud.

_"Good to know this body works as well as it should..."_ She murmured to herself before looking to the tower at the end of walkway roof she now stood upon. _"Now to get a sense of the lay of the land..."_

With that she sprinted down the roof towards the tower before crouching and leaping straight up the four stories to land upon the red roof of the tower.

With a pleasant sigh, Archerko smiled slightly as she began to scan her eyes across the surrounding landscape.

There were gently rolling hills covered in grass and occasional wildflowers. A single road cut across the landscape, leading off to go over the horizon as it entered a forest that grew off to either side of the road but remained a healthy distance away to avoid sheltering any dangers that could go after a traveler.

With a small sigh of contentment as she watched the sun drift closer towards the horizon, Archerko gently sat down on red shingled roof to watch as the shadows across the land began to elongate and the sky began to change colors.

**OoOoOoOoO**

_"Where in the world did that familiar get to?!"_ Louise demanded, seemingly of herself in thought as she stalked through yet another hallway in search of her recently summoned familiar.

She had wanted to speak to the silver haired girl as soon as class had ended, but once she had left, the familiar in question was nowhere to be found. The frustration that her summon hadn't waited for her was tangible and now as she searched for Archerko as the familiar had said her name was, her anger was only increased as Tabitha and Kirche had decided to follow along behind her.

As she rounded the next corner only to find that yet again her familiar was not present, Louise felt her anger reaching a breaking point point as she called out to a maid she spotted cleaning a table nearby.

"Servant! I am looking for my familiar, have you seen her?" She called out sharply.

The maid, a young girl close to her own age with short black hair and blue eyes looked up abruptly as she met Louise's angry gaze before replying.

"Ah Miss Valliere, um, you're familiar is a woman taller than me, long silver hair, and red eyes correct?"

"Correct, you have seen her then?"

"Ah I ran into a few hours ago or so but last I saw she had climbed to the top of the Fire building's roof, ma'am" the maid replied.

Louise paused as if hesitant to accept that answer before sighing as she turned on her heal and set a direct course for the red roofed tower of the Tristain Magic Academy.

**OoOoOoOoO**

_"This...This is nice. I'm not dead anymore, I don't have to fight him at all, and to top it off, things are peaceful. I could probably get used to this. Maybe let this be a bit like life always was back with Fuji-nee and everyone els-"_ Archerko thought peacefully to herself as she watched the sun dip ever closer to the horizon before she was suddenly brought out of her thoughts as the world around her grew very, very hot.

A reflexive lean then took her onto her back and moved her torso out of the way an instant before a two or three meter wide ball of fire suddenly rushed by her to streak into the sky.

She didn't trace any weapons immediately, but Archerko did proceed to flip herself back onto her feet before turning to look at the source of the sudden unexpected attack that had come rocketing up from below.

As she looked over the edge to see just who was behind the sudden assault, she spotted Kirche and Tabitha standing idly by and in front if the pair a rather angry looking pinkette.

_"Oooo probably should'a waited for her..._" Archerko considered with a wince before she spotted Louise beginning to raise her wand again for another spell.

Immediately she raised her hands in a placating gesture and watched as the armed girl's hands fell to rest on her hips before she gave a sigh and hopped from the roof of the tower, hearing a trio of distant cries of surprise at the act.

As she touched down lightly on her feet, she flashed her master her best smile as she approached before saying, "Rather impressive fireball master."

"Don't try and patronize me familiar, where did you go after you left the classroom?" Louise demanded of her.

Archerko held a steady stare with Louise for several seconds before closing her eyes and sighing as she said, "I went to go learn the layout of the Academy, master. It seemed a bad idea to have a familiar who would always be getting lost otherwise."

Louise went silent for several seconds as she returned Archerko's gaze before before turning on her heel and stalking off as she replied by way of saying, "Acceptable. Now come, dinner will be starting soon and I have no plans to be late."

"Yes master," Archerko replied with a sigh, taking note of a mirthful smile on Kirche's face and the blank stare she was receiving from Tabitha.

**OoOoOoOoO**

**A/N:** I had planned to go farther with this chapter, but I ended up with this rather nice cut off point right here so I stopped where I was because of it and partially because I had reached the usual length for the chapters that I'm trying to get.

Now to address some reviews.

**First off**, as I noted in the chapter, no one is calling out elf cause she doesn't have the ears for it.

**Second**, yes both her origin and her element are blades, but that doesn't mean she can't get good at other magics, it just means that it's harder. Plus she still has Illya's spell crest, or at least all the memories from it if not the actual thing across her body though I'm edging towards that it was recreated with her body. And besides that, she could use runes, which don't involve ones origin or element as I understand it.

**Third**, yes I'm introducing new magics for Archerko. Why? there's good reasons for it, and they'll show up in later chapters, especially when Archerko get's her workshop setu- oops shouldn't have spilled the beans on that.

**Fourth**, learning Rin's finger gun isn't impossible, even if rin didn't teach her the full thing, she could still learn the basics of the Gandr spell, which while not as fast firing, is still powerful.

**Fifth**, right now, Archerko is ridiculously strong. I came across a prana level comparison for various magai. originally Shirou had about 30 units of Prana at his command, Rin had about 500 units of Prana, and a counter guardian like EMIYA or Archerko has about 1,000,000,000 units of Prana meaning that even if a spell is difficult or inefficient, she has enormous amounts of power she can use to spend on it. I found this on the TYPE-MOON wikia under 'Prana'.


	5. Chapter 5: Settling In

Again all copyright's go to their respective owners, no matter how much I wish to, I don't own Familiar of Zero or the TYPE-MOON universe.

And most importantly, thank you to my beta-readers Keeper of the Inn, Mizuki00, and Shadow Zeranion, all of whom put up with my troublesome writing and stubbornness!

Now back to the story.

**OoOoOoOoO**

Dinner, Archerko noted as she slowly ate her meal besides Louise, was an interesting affair to put it mildly.

The entirety of the cafeteria area was filled with discussion over any number of topics, though she easily picked up the words 'Louise' and 'Familiar' more than a few times to know what the main subject was. What made things interesting was that for about fifteen feet in any direction of her, the conversation among the students wasn't the boisterous chatter of the rest of the room but rather a small sea of calm, quiet whispering and murmuring as if people were afraid that if they were too loud she might lash out at them.

"Tell me something if you will master," Archerko asked as she took a sidelong glance at the pinkette beside her, "Many of the students around us seem to be discussing the magic I displayed earlier, is it because it's so rare for someone to be a square class mage or because I'm you're familiar?"

Until that moment, Louise had been doing, at least in Archerko's view, an admirable job of impersonating Saber as she slowly and methodically worked her way through her meal with the all the eventuality of an advancing glacier as she seemingly ignored everything around her till Archerko spoke up. Calmly as she set down her silverware for a brief moment, Louise met Archerko's sidelong glance with one of her own before responding as she replied, "The square class rank is the highest level of skill a mage can attain and very few ever reach that level. The fact that you as a familiar are capable of such magic is probably why everyone is so interested in you."

"Also because you are supposedly 'The Zero' and yet you summoned me?"

Louise was silent long enough that Archerko wondered just how angry the little pinkette was as she caught sight of Kirche who gave a curious smile in reply before she looked back to her summoner as she heard Louise grind the word 'Yes' out through clenched teeth as a reply.

Deciding not to rile up the little mage any more, Archerko gave a small shrug and turned her attention back to her meal to continue eating in silence.

**OoOoOoOoO**

Louise had refused to answer anymore of Archerko's small questions over dinner and left their small group in silence before leading Archerko back to her room in complete silence, broken only by steady clacking of their shoes on the stone flooring.

Once they had entered Louise's room though and the petite mage had closed the door behind them, the Louise let out the anger that she seemed to have managed to keep bottled since the classroom earlier that day as she rounded on Archerko who had taken a seat on the foot of the bed.

"Who are you?" The pinkette demanded with sudden venom.

Turning to look from the open window where she had been watching the sky, Archerko raised an eyebrow at her summoner as she replied, "I believe I said to call me Archerko."

"Liar," Louise hissed back, "There's something weird about you besides the obvious things, so tell me who are you familiar?"

"And why, pray tell, does my being different get you so hot under the collar master?" Archerko replied cooly as she locked eyes with Louise.

"You used magic without even using wand, that should be impossible if you're human. You jumped straight off the top of the tower and landed just fine. You're not natural and you're dangero-" Louise began to rant only to cut off Archerko began to chuckle.

"What's so funny?!" The mage demanded.

"How right you are is what's funny," Archerko replied with a wry grin as she watched her master's anger be replaced with sudden confusion.

"I'm not from this world Miss Louise."

"What do you mean?"

"I meant exactly what I said. I am not from this world. More precisely, I'm from a world known as Earth, and I was dead until you summoned me."

The part about being from another world seemed to go over Louise's head, but the part about being dead not it seemed as the girl's eyes opened to the size of dinner plates as she sputtered, "You're a z-zombie?!"

Archerko scoffed in reply as she spoke, "Hardly. A zombie is the dead raised in a mockery of life without a soul. I was summoned as a soul and given a body through alchemy and forgery. I am alive in every sense of the word."

"How did you die?"

"That's personal. All you need to know is that if your orders are reasonable Miss Valliere, I'll follow them without question, and that I am assuredly dangerous to anyone who would call themselves your enemy," Archerko replied cooly, not particularly enjoying having Louise dig at her past.

"Even...Even if I did resurrect you...something still feels...strange...about you, Archerko," Louise replied using her name.

As she closed her eyes, Archerko gave a small smirk before replying as she said, "You know for all the lack of skill your fellow students rag on you about, you have pretty sharp intuition master."

She paused as she exhaled before taking a fresh breath as she said, "I'm what's called a Counter Guardian. In life I had a wish and in order to fulfill that wish I cut a deal with the world. In exchange for service to the world for eternity, my wish would be granted. Only things were a little weird because my wish brought me into direct conflict with another Counter Guardian. As such I prefer to call myself a Counter Counter Guardian."

"You cut a deal with the world?"

"Yeah, the spirit of the world."

"You mean God, right?" Louise asked inquisitively only to nearly rear back as Archerko snorted.

"Hardly. I cut a deal with Alaya, the Will of Humanity," Archerko replied as she grinned before looking to Louise whose face she found was frozen in horror.

"A-Absolutely not! You do not refer to the divine by such a term!" She finally responded, clear fury on her face.

"Why not? If your world's god is anything like mine's then there's no reason not to," Archerko replied haughtily only to suddenly find herself face-to-face with Louise as the tiny girl grabbed her collar and pulled her to face her. She wasn't sure when she'd made it over to her, but that wasn't important.

"You will not insult god nor the holy founder Brimnr! You are completely wrong and I will not have my familiar taken away for heresy!" The mage hissed.

Archerko locked eyes with Louise for a moment before sighing as she said, "Fine, I'll keep my truths to myself."

The reply only seemed to grit on Louise's nerves as her summoner glared at her for several seconds before sighing as she said, "You said that magic you did earlier was alchemy? What does that mean?"

"It's a branch of magecraft that makes up for lack of skill with raw power to primarily change one material into another. It's very inefficient, but for someone like me it's the best method available for certain tasks," Archerko replied with a noncommittal shrug.

"Someone like you?"

Archerko paused for a moment before sighing as she said, "Master I think we both have questions about how each other's magic functions, so how about a trade. You explain your magic system first and then I'll explain my own."

Louise, it seemed, took only the barest moment to consider the offer before nodding and Archerko could guess why. The rumor mill in the school was loud enough that she had figured out Louise was not very good at practical magic, if any good at all, and here she was with the potential to learn a whole new system that could potentially let Louise finally start getting ahead.

The advantage to agreeing for the girl were obvious.

So Archerko settled in as she watched Louise adopt a very astute and almost teacher-like posture as she began to explain explain the way magic worked in this world.

In a way, Archerko couldn't help but be reminded of Rin when the brunette had taken time to explain concepts and practices to her. As she banished that thought though, Archerko returned her attention to Louise who was just beginning her explanation.

"Magic," Louise began, "Is classified into five different elements: Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, and Void. A mage is classified by the number of elements they can use along with their alignment element which is determined by the element of their summoned familiar."

Archerko resisted the urge to ask a question at that explanation as she continued to listen.

"Spells are made up of points, and the number of points a mage can use determines both the complexity of magic they can perform as well as the number of elements they can use. A mage capable of only putting one point into a spell can only harness basic magic from their primary element and is known as a Dot class Mage. A mage capable of using two points is called a line class mage and is capable of using at least two successive applications of their primary element in a single spell though they can be substituted for other elements if the user has the skill. Someone who can use three points is called a Triangle class Mage, and someone who can use four points is known as a Square class Mage. Converting something into gold is a square class magic as it requires four levels of earth magic in the spell to perform the chosen magic, hence why you are being called a Square class Mage."

"And what about using five points?" Archerko asked.

"No one is capable of stacking all five elements," Louise replied with assurity.

"So a mage's skill is determined by how many levels of magic they can apply to a spell correct, but limited to a maximum of four?"

"Yes."

"And you use wands as a focus to perform your magic?"

"Correct."

"And their element is determined by what familiar they summon?"

"Yes."

"Then what is your element, master?"

Silence greeted the question for several moments before Louise sighed as she said, "I don't know. You're...a human I guess so I don't know what your element is and what it would mean for me."

"Ah."

"Ah what?"

"Nothing, it's just that that explains a great deal to me about why the other students act the way they do."

To Archerko, Louise seemed a touch upset that she wouldn't elaborate, but gave a derisive 'hmpf' before looking back to her as she said, "Fine, now it is your turn to explain how that magic you used before works."

Archerko paused briefly as she looked out the window before replying as she said, "I think that'll need to wait till tomorrow, it's late enough this evening."

That seemed to get Louise's attention as the pinkette's eyes bulged with anger and color came to her cheeks before she suddenly shouted, "As your master, I demand you tell me!"

The girl's heaving huffing and puffing seemed to still though as Archerko turned to look at her with a cold glare as she replied, "I'll tell you tomorrow, but don't assume to demand things of me. I won't stand for being walked over, even if i am your familiar."

Louise seemed to lose most of her bluster in the face of Archerko's cold response before she suddenly huffed and stalked over to a large wardrobe where she began to change clothes, at which point Archerko stopped paying attention to her.

To her misfortune.

A scant few moments later, a large bundle of clothing hurtled past her head to snack into the wall as Louise pointedly declared, "I want you to have those washed at dried by morning."

Archerko grumbled a little as she shrugged and picked up the the dirty clothes that had been thrown past her. Giving a brief sigh as she gathered the clothing, she looked briefly to Louise who had climbed under the covers as she worked before she left the room.

This was just charming, she was a Counter-Counter-Guardian...and now she was doing a little girl's laundry.

**OoOoOoOoO**

With Louise's clothing rolled into a ball and tucked beneath her left arm, Archerko walked out of the dorm with the intent of finding the tools she needed to wash her little summoner's clothing by morning.

_"I suppose I could just trace that rune powered washing machine I made...it was useful even if Rin never liked me applying magecraft in such a way. Probably be a little conspicuous though."_ Archerko briefly considered as she stalked down the covered walkway between the main building and the tower where Louise's room was.

It was as she turned the corner of the door into the main building that a solution to her issue kindly presented itself in the form of a certain attractive carrying a load of what looked to be bed sheets in her arms.

"Ah Siesta, good to see you," Archerko greeted the maid warmly.

"Ah, Miss Archerko, I didn't think you would still be up, most students are already asleep," the maid replied with a polite smile in greeting.

"Eh, I would have been but Louise decided she wanted me to go get her clothes cleaned overnight. So would you have anything I could use, pretty please?" Archerko asked sweetly as she gave another smile to the maid.

Siesta visibly seemed to trip on her tongue for a moment before nodding and getting out some fashion of reply as she said, "Yes, let me see what I can do for you Miss Archerko."

**OoOoOoOoO**

And so it was that some fifteen minutes later Archerko sat hunched over a large washbasin in a relatively secluded corner against a tower as she scrubbed out the soap from her little master's clothing, making no small effort hide her grumpiness at it. If she had to be doing chores she would rather that she be let into the kitchen where she could simply cook and put her well honed skills to use making a good meal.

Eventually as the night wore on, Archerko finished with the washing and let Siesta take the clothing away to be dried as apparently the academy had some sort of room set up explicitly for drying clothing after it had been washed. For her part, Archerko chose to accompany the maid to get a better look at some of the areas that had been locked earlier but were now open.

For the most part she noticed, the bulk of the other maids and servants in the various rooms Siesta led her through kept their distance though many gave what equated to a look of curiosity as Archerko went by, something she worked to help along by greeting the various people they went past with a friendly smile.

After a hike across the building through all sorts of rooms, Siesta brought Archerko to a door that as she opened revealed just what Siesta had meant by 'drying room'. The air was hot, at least ninety degrees she guessed and dry enough that she could feel moisture leaving her skin as she entered and hung Louise's close out to dry on a set of lines before Siesta escorted her back out, giving her a promise that once the clothes were dry they would be returned to Miss Valliere's room.

Satisfied she'd done enough to placate the vile temper of her summoner come morning, Archerko resumed exploring the grounds to get a feel for the place at night though she had to make an effort not to let herself be disturbed by the two moons hanging in the sky. Only as she strode across the roof of one of the covered walkways in silence, she paused as she heard a voice speaking beneath her.

Cautiously laying down on the roof, Archerko peeked her head over in curiosity to watch as the blonde boy from earlier that day, Guiche if memory served her correctly, attempted to woo a blonde girl that Archerko recognized as the girl she had tried to get an answer from during the class that afternoon.

When Guiche started to speak though, Archerko could barely keep from laughing.

**OoOoOoOoO**

**A/N:** time to address some reviews.

1. Whether Counter Guardians like Archerko have that much power without being connected to Alaya doesn't matter as much here, the fact is that Archerko hasn't been limited to the class of a servant so none of her parameters have been restricted by class specifics.

2. Louise may not be able to cast fireball, but perhaps she can cast a fireball. As I said before, I'll be messing with canon.

3. Archerko's projections will at the very least last longer since the world isn't trying to erase them.

4. The action parts are coming, just hold your horses.


	6. Have Some Update

**UPDATE**

**Apologies for lack of progress, I found myself decidedly unhappy with how this story was going both in the size of chapters and the lack of drama and action so I've been doing a full overhaul of the entire thing which will hopefully be much more interesting.**

**And remember, canon is thy plaything.**


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